


A Thousand Lifetimes

by Jem (Jemsauce)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 10/2, F/M, Pete's World, tentoosday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 02:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemsauce/pseuds/Jem
Summary: Twenty-six years after the Metacrisis.  (Posted for Tentoosday!  10/2/17)





	A Thousand Lifetimes

The Doctor stood on the veranda of Pete and Jackie's mansion, leaning against one of the massive front pillars as he watched his grandchildren playing in the grass. The sun glinted off the stripe of silver hair that grew around his temples, and highlighted the golden brown that remained above, still sculpted into a thick, spikey frond that fell over his forehead playfully. His blue suit had long since been retired to a box in the back of the attic, worn and frayed, but too full of memories to be discarded. Now he wore a t-shirt and jeans, and a scruff of silver stubble grew along his jaw.

It was hot. He'd never much noticed that sort of thing before, back in his Time Lord days. But he'd been a human so long now, he was used to feeling the effects of temperature extremes. A bead of sweat slid down his temple, and he dabbed it away with the back of his hand as one of the children pranced manically through the grass after the dandelion seeds that her older brother was blowing into the air, prompting a smile from the Doctor—one that gave birth to a dozen crinkles around his eyes and mouth.

Rose approached from behind, bumping her shoulder into his with a grin as she handed him something cool to drink.

“A long, cool drink for my long, cool drink?” she said flirtatiously.

The Doctor laughed as he took the glass, then leaned in for a kiss. She returned the kiss affectionately, and he lingered there a moment, nuzzling his head into hers before pulling back; he wrapped his free arm snugly around her waist and pulled her close.

“Not too warm for a cuddle?” she said with a giggle.

“Never.” He took a sip from the glass, then looked at it anew, studying its evident contents. Bits of ice, pale amber liquid, crushed leaves... it was delicious. “What's this, then?”

“Mint julep.”

He grinned. “What, you mean like what they drink in the American south?”

“Yep! Well, in our old universe, anyway. Here it originated in Kent during a particularly hot summer in the mid 1800s.”

“'Course it did,” he said with a nod. “Blimey, twenty-six years here, and I'm still learning something new.”

“I suppose that feels like the blink of an eye to you,” Rose said with a slight chuckle.

He shrugged. “Dunno.” He sipped his drink again. “When you were gone, and I was still in that old universe, I met a man who was obsessed with being young. Brilliant man! Genius! But he dedicated his life to the pursuit of eternal youth, and it ended up destroying him.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah... you know, I told him some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty.”

Rose leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. “I suppose it's not the time that matter, it's the person.”

“Exactly.”

“So how much have you lived here, with me?”

He gazed into her eyes and his mouth spread into a huge grin. “A thousand lifetimes, love.” He leaned down and gave her a tender kiss on the forehead. “Each more brilliant than the last.”


End file.
